Urban Garden Seed

[Diane Whitehead]

They offer an amazing range of seeds - from cactus to vegetables, including lots of orchids, and also bulbs.

https://urbangardenseed.com

There are some negative reviews online.

Have any of you bought from them and been satisfied with the results?

[Uli]

Orchid seeds? Hmmmmm..... of course you can grow orchids from seed but do they mention that you need laboratory equipment to do that? If not, I doubt that they are serious if their orchid seed sowing instructions look as if you would sow sunflowers.....
https://urbangardenseed.com/product/flying-duck-orchid-flower-seeds-rare-beautiful-orchids-100pcs-pack/
Uli 

[CG100]

of course you can grow orchids from seed but do they mention that you need laboratory equipment to do that?

Orchids do perfectly OK in habitat.
I have only tried one from seed - common spotted -  Dactylorhiza fuchsii -although it took 2-3 years to produce any recognisable seedlings, it now seeds around reasonably freely, especially into pots. I also noticed numerous plants of this species in pots of various perrenials at a show - the nursery owner assured me that they had them coming up all over the place.
The usual recommendation is to sow any orchid seed around an established plant, but does it really help? The seed must have a suitable symbiote fungus to germinate and form a seedling (or supply of suitable "nutrients" in a flask), but how available would these be from an established plant? How specific is the relationship between particular orchid and fungus species?

UK nurseries sell orchid seed, and it is common enough on various society seed distribution lists, but quantities in each packet tend to be "vast", and prices where they are sold tend to be low - both, presumably, a reflection of likely success rate/speed.

The advantage of using lab' culture is that success rates are high and propagation is fast, but it is not essential.

[David Pilling]

I agree with the above comments by CG100. But going the lab route for growing orchids always appealed to me - I never got there. A friend did and had success with home made equipment.

I used to feel the need to use lab style techniques with some non-orchid seed. There were some species where the seed would take so long to germinate that it would be overtaken by undesirable stuff like moss and liverworts - and it was too small for the kitchen towel approach.

In general there are worthy seed vendors and there are worthless seed vendors. When I started I assumed seeds all came from people with huge gardens where they grew all the seed they sold. Most seed is traded, and at one end of the spectrum there are dealers who have never grown a seed in their life but know two things, seed has an infinite lifetime and the price per seed increases for smaller lots. The end result is people on ebay selling five year old single seeds of cosmos bipinnatus for $1.

I seem to recall one of the UK seed vendors with the biggest range of rare varieties at high prices operated from an inner city tower block.

The English fairy tale "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" (1734) has its base in reality.

If I was giving you some seed of my own I would be unable to avoid embroidering their merits.

Gardeners have to be optimists - perfect market - people who want to believe in your product.

[Robert_Parks]

I agree with the above comments by CG100. But going the lab route for growing orchids always appealed to me - I never got there. A friend did and had success with home made equipment.

I used to feel the need to use lab style techniques with some non-orchid seed. There were some species where the seed would take so long to germinate that it would be overtaken by undesirable stuff like moss and liverworts - and it was too small for the kitchen towel approach.

In general there are worthy seed vendors and there are worthless seed vendors. When I started I assumed seeds all came from people with huge gardens where they grew all the seed they sold. Most seed is traded, and at one end of the spectrum there are dealers who have never grown a seed in their life but know two things, seed has an infinite lifetime and the price per seed increases for smaller lots. The end result is people on ebay selling five year old single seeds of cosmos bipinnatus for $1.

I seem to recall one of the UK seed vendors with the biggest range of rare varieties at high prices operated from an inner city tower block.

The English fairy tale "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" (1734) has its base in reality.

If I was giving you some seed of my own I would be unable to avoid embroidering their merits.

Gardeners have to be optimists - perfect market - people who want to believe in your product.

Buyer beware. Look at the seed list and whether there is a likelihood of fresh true seed...maybe buy a few packets and see what happens. In general, the aggregators have unreliable seed, but sometimes you get lucky. Got some mixed Dierama seed from an eBay seller...near 100% germination. Got a number of species this spring, again, near 100% germination. Obviously distinct plants in each pot, but years until they flower. Based on their listings and etc. they appear to be importing from Plant World Seeds in the UK and repackaging. I now have a LOT of small Dierama plants...

[David Pilling]

Plant World Seeds

Plant World Seeds are an example of the opposite, they do seem to have a large garden and harvest seeds from it. My experience (over 10 years ago now) is that they were very good.